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All ECCC Vertigo Panel Attendees Got Sandman #1 to #75 Free

Published Sat, 03 Mar 2018 17:04:15 -0600

The Vertigo panel at ECCC promised much, but it was basically what you read in that Entertainment Weekly article last week. And on Bleeding Cool two years ago.

But what attendees did get, as well as getting details from the horses' mouths… was all seventy-five issues of Sandman by Neil Gaiman and friends. Digitally.

That's $130 worth of digital comics, just for turning up at a comic book panel.

You get all of Sandman. And you get all of Sandman. Everybody gets all of Sandman.

And so does Bleeding Cool's Ian Melton. Thanks for the shots, Ian.

The Sandman written by Neil Gaiman with artists including Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel, Michael Zulli and more, with lettering by Todd Klein and covers by Dave McKean. The original series ran for 75 issues from January 1989 to March 1996.

The main character of The Sandman is Dream, also known as Morpheus and other names, who is one of the seven Endless. The other Endless are Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium (formerly Delight) and Destruction. The series is famous for Gaiman's trademark use of anthropomorphic personification of various metaphysical entities, while also blending mythology and history in its horror setting within the DC Universe.

Gaiman revisited Sandman with JH Williams III three years ago for a prequel mini-series, Sandman Overture, and two years ago Bleeding Cool reported that the series was to get a number of spinoffs in a line curated by Neil Gaiman.

The Sandman Universe one-shot special begins in August, which will catch readers up on what's been happening in the Dreaming since. Dream has gone missing (again), leaving chaos in his wake. Well, he can't show his face after appearing in Metal after all.

There is an opening of a rift between worlds, revealing a space beyond the Dreaming. One of the never written books from Lucien's library has travelled to the waking world, discovered by children

And a House of Whispers has appeared alongside Cain's House of Mystery and Abel's House of Secrets.

One of those books will focus on a new House joining the House Of Secrets and the House Of Mystery in the Dreaming and generating new stories from that. I am told, however, that it has been forbidden for Dream, the Sandman, Morpheus or Daniel, to appear in the comic.

Even though one of the books revolves around something rather major and un-ignorable happening to the Dreaming…

Blimey. Lucifer has fallen again (comedy basic), and Timothy Hunter is being subject to his fates.

The Sandman Universe #1 will be plotted by Gaiman but written by Nalo Hopkinson, Kat Howard, Si Spurrier, and Dan Watters, with art by Bilquis Evely and a cover by Jae Lee.

Each writer then writes one of the series.

Nalo Hopkinson will write House of Whispers and explore how the voodoo deity Erzulie ended up in the Dreaming with her titular house. It might have something to do with a comatose woman named Latoya, whose girlfriend and sisters used the Book of Whispers to try and heal her. Now out of her coma, Latoya is suffering from the Cotard's Delusion belief that she's already dead, and is transmitting her belief to others, catalyzing them to become guardians of the gap that has opened in the Dreaming.

Kat Howard will write Books of Magic, which will follow up on Gaiman's 1990 miniseries of the same name and explore Timothy Hunter's magical education as he's torn between two powerful destinies. Spurrier will write The Dreaming, which will follow The Sandman supporting characters like Lucien the librarian and Matthew the Raven as they navigate a Dreaming without Dream. Watters will write Lucifer, which finds the titular devil blind and destitute, trapped living in a small boarding house in a quiet town where no one can ever leave. Artists for the books have not been announced yet.

Si Spurrier will write The Dreaming, which will follow The Sandman supporting characters like Lucien the librarian and Matthew the Raven as they navigate a Dreaming without Dream.

Dan Watters will write Lucifer, which finds the titular devil blind and destitute, trapped living in a small boarding house in a quiet town where no one can ever leave. Artists for the books have not been announced yet.